A to Z Theme Reveal

Writerly Sam organized this great idea of theme reveal. Last year I had no trouble coming up with a theme. I tossed three different ideas around this year and outlined some posts until I decided on one. A little over a year ago I led an online class about world building. As someone who writes and has published multiple fantasy and science fiction series, I always do world building. My posts are mostly a series of questions.

Because the list is in alphabetical order, my questions are not in order of importance for building a world. Minor details will be mixed in with major ideas. I hope the list will help someone creating their world for their book or short story. Even contemporary stories set in small towns 'world build' as the author creates that make believe village.

As you check out the different themes posted today, my advice is to take a chance on a blog not in your area of interests. It's tempting for me to only look for blogs that are about writing but there are lots of other wonderful blogs to follow. One of my favorite blogs, The Happy Whisk, posts mostly about cooking. I love that blog and Ivy is so funny, she makes me smile every day. You're going to find some lovely bloggers with great things to say. Just my humble advice.

Do you have a theme this year? Do you have a favorite blog that isn't about writing? Do you have an interest in world building?

One Great Place to Be

Today I'm being interviewed at Ellie Garratt's blog. She asks very interesting questions. I hope you stop by and say hi to me and Ellie. I'll also give a shout out to The Marine's Queen.

Today and tomorrow I'm working on my A to Z posts for the IWSG blog. I only have to do four of those and have some outlines jotted down. Less than two weeks to go.

A little bit of ice this morning and then hopefully I can stop complaining about winter for at least six months. Sorry you had to read my whining for this past season. I won't even complain about the heat in the summer. I hope to hear the geese flying south soon. No sign of any bulbs poking their sprouts above ground yet.

Now for a little advice from my Old Farmer's Almanac planner. For a good-tempered relationship, buy an engagement  ring on a Wednesday.

My outline is all done for my next book though I don't have even a small idea for a title. I've been helping my husband with some of his work, letting my own fall behind.

Do you know Ellie? Do you remember what day of the week you became engaged on? What signs of spring have you seen? 

Focus

This weekend I finally finished all my A to Z posts for this blog. I've had them outlined but hadn't taken the time to sit at my desk and put the hours needed into scheduling them. This weekend, especially on Sunday, I made my goal and focused on it like I was working on the last chapter of the novel.

Focus is one of my strengths though I can also procrastinate like a pro. I have to feel the pressure. I wanted to get my A to Z posts completed so I could concentrate on the outline of my next novel. I always used my time running to think about my current works. This one has seen a lot of miles and I'm anxious to type those lovely words, chapter one. I know I won't get very far on it during April but even tiny progress will help me stay focused. Now that I have those posts all ready, I can focus on writing.

I still have to finish my posts on the group blog, IWSG. The group is participating in A to Z also so I hope you remember to visit. And check out the new post at IWSG today.

Hopefully today is our last snow storm of the endless winter. I'm ready to name our little bit of acreage Winterfell. If I see an ice wall growing in the back yard....

But Frozen comes out on video tomorrow so I guess I'll at least watch some snow and ice for another day. Did you do any writer related work over the weekend? Have those posts ready? Are you a focused person when working on your writing?

Happy St. Patty's Day. No green beer for our house or Irish whiskey.

Friday Fun Times

How about a few notes of appreciation and shout outs for today. Toni DePalma is kicking off her blog tour for her newest release, The Devil's Temptation. This is on my TBR list. Love that cover and here's a short blurb.

Fighting the Devil brought Cooper and Grace together. But without a little evil to spice things up, the everyday life of a normal teenager is pretty dull. A summer job crewing on a billionaire’s yacht in sunny Italy might be just the ticket to rekindle passion. While the setting is perfect, the winding, sinister back streets of Naples are also the perfect playground for a scorned Lucifer to wreak havoc. And if evil doesn’t rip them apart, the sultry billionaire’s daughter and the sexy First Officer might be what it takes to finally destroy Cooper and Grace’s love forever.

Buy The Devil's Temptation today.

A special thanks to Crystal Collier. I won a book on her blog. I'm very much looking forward to reading Scotland's Guardians by Katharina Gerlach. Watch for my review.

A little wisdom from the Old Farmer's Almanac to think about this weekend. "To avoid nightmares smell your socks before going to bed." Let me know if that works.

Hopefully next week I'll be sharing the news that I have my A to Z posts finished. Those are my weekend plans.

Don't forget to read those wormfest posts. They're all so thought out as we embrace the future at the same time we have concerns of where it might take us.

Congrats to Alex J. Cavanaugh for reaching 2,000 followers. Just wow!

Saturday I drive my daughter to the train station so she can return to college in Boston. Sunday I drive my son to Penn State so he can dive into those last seven weeks of his college career.

Are your weekend plans as exciting as mine? Any special shout outs you want to share?

Newest Excuse

Wormhole fest post here.

It's not difficult to find methods of procrastination or make excuses for indulging in them. My best one this week is that my children are on spring break and I'm in full mom-mode cooking and giving them some special care. But each morning when I wake up, surprised at how late I slept, I'm reminded of a more scientific rational for not getting more of my A to Z posts ready this week.

Statistics show that the recent time change to Daylight Savings Time is really slowing me down. Some of the things we can blame on the recent loss of an hour's sleep?

How about higher blood pressure and more chance of heart attack until we adjust? More care accidents occur. More wasting time on the web when we should be working. Overeating. More headaches. Just about every study points out lower productivity at work. Even the stock market supposedly reacts with a bit of a nap.

I can vouch for lower productivity on this home front but I'm not sure I can blame it on that lost hour.

As a sports family, we've always loved this time change for giving us that hour of daylight in the evening so we could 'play ball.' And after this vicious winter, the extra sunlight will be appreciated.

Just as there are many negative things connected to this time, some studies also show that once you adjust to the change, you'll be happier as the hours of natural light extend into evening. That's my next excuse. How can I write when it's so sunny and warm out?

Did the time change bother you at all? All adjusted by now? Did you notice any of the above mentioned issues? What's your biggest rational to procrastinate recently? Have a good one I can use?

Don't forget Wormhole Week. Join the fun as we speculate on our technological future.

2014 Wormfest

What an exciting Monday. Let's start with Stephen Tremp's kickoff for his Escalation blog tour. He's visiting Alex J. Cavanaugh today and will appear here later this month. Good luck to Stephen.

This week is also National Wormhole Week. The Wormfest blog hop is hosted by Stephen Tremp, Alex J. Cavanaugh and L. Diane Wolfe. This years science theme challenge is to name one technological advance that you believe will greatly benefit mankind and also one that might set humanity back. Find the full list of participants on any of their blogs.

I didn't even have to think about this one as a former educator. Each year more and more educational opportunities become available online. It's wonderful. Probably most of you attended a traditional school like I did. We had a choice of three foreign languages at my old high school. Today I would have hundreds of choices. Your little school doesn't offer a certain science class, go online and find it. Attend college online. My son has done all his master's work online. It's convenient, saves money and seems of infinite possibilities. The advantages to online education are too numerous for a short post.

Many, maybe even most high schools, already offer some courses online or an entire cyper curriculum for their students. Some have hybrid learning courses where they meet with an instructor some classroom meetings but most learning is with their computers. For the properly motivated eager learner, these type of learning environments can be great. But the unmotivated student often needs the presence of an actual teacher to offer encouragement and guidance. Not all students will have equal access to all the educational options no matter how much we vow to make that happen. Could the future of educational as an online entity create a gap between the best and brightest and even the average student? Will the important social skills learned in schools become a thing of the past? How far will technology go in limiting personal interaction?

I think we're already within the educational wormhole. Good or bad? What do you think?

I hope you'll share your wormhole thoughts this week. Remember to visit Stephen Tremp and follow his blog tour and the Wormfest. Also visit L. Diane and Alex J.

Highly Creative

Once in a while I'll follow a link to one of the Huffington Post articles. I'm never sure how scientific their lists are but they do make interesting reading. They like putting numbers in their posts. I would actually read more of their stuff if their pages didn't take so long to load sometimes. Too many adverts.

18 Things Highly Creative People Do Differently has a long descriptive list of creative people. Of course, I had to compare myself to those habits. I surprised myself by seeing myself in some but not all of them.

I do daydream and I tend to observe everything around me. I don't want to miss anything. I like some, need solitude at times. I like being alone, not always easy growing up in a big family and having one of my own. I admit to asking the big questions though I don't get many answers.

I don't fit them all. I'm not a big risk taker but I think we'll all do less of that as we mature. I hope. A few of the others don't fit me either. I guess I'm a somewhat creative person, not quite qualifying as highly creative. If you have time, go to the article and see how you rate in the creativity rankings.

Thanks to all the wonderful visitors for IWSG on Wednesday. It was a fun and busy day. Don't forget Wormhole blog hop starting on Monday.

Do you think you're highly creative? Disagree or agree with Huffington's list?